President given letter asking for base support

When President Joe Biden landed in Albuquerque on a visit to New Mexico Wednesday, he received a hand-delivered letter from New Mexico U.S. Congress members encouraging the president to support Cannon Air Force Base, according to a press release from the Congress members.

On Aug. 2, the Air Force officially announced its intention to transfer a squadron of MC 130J armed cargo planes and up to 350 personnel to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Ariz., in 2027.

The transferred squadron would become part of the 492nd Power Projection Wing of the Air Force’s Special Operations Command, based at Davis Monthan. The Cannon squadron is currently part of the 27th Special Operations Wing (27th SOW) at Cannon.

The letter handed to Biden on Wednesday by the New Mexico Delegation, which includes Democratic U.S. senators Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Lujan, and U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, urges President Biden to assist in efforts to find new missions for Cannon.

As quoted in a news release from the delegation, the letter states, “We write to express our strong support for Cannon Air Force Base (CAFB).”

The letter continues, “We are dedicated to maintaining and strengthening the current investment at (Cannon) and want to work with your administration to find additional investments and forward-looking missions that can benefit (Cannon) and the U.S. Air Force Special Operations.”

The letter also emphasized the importance of Cannon to Clovis, Curry County, and New Mexico as a whole. The letter cites an analysis by the University of New Mexico’ Bureau of Business and Economic Research that found Cannon and the associated Melrose Air Force Range in fiscal year 2020 generated or influenced 6,413 jobs, more than $400 million in wages and salaries, and $2 billion in a total industrial output.

The 27th SOW, the letter continued, “is excelling in its vital national security mission and (Cannon) is well positioned to expand its mission with your administration’s increased investment and support”

The letter sated Cannon is “the premier Air Force Special Operations installation in the country.”

The delegation also states in the letter, “We are also extremely proud of the strong community support for CAFB. The eastern New Mexico community has the highest level of understanding and appreciation for the base’s mission and the service members stationed there.”

The news release also noted that over the past several months, the delegation and Clovis Mayor Mike Morris “have engaged directly with Air Force leadership to advocate for its continued investment in Cannon and defend against efforts to relocate assets and service members from Cannon.”